What and what not to include in engagement ring chats can be a bit blurry. This is part one of a blog series on engagement ring questions for “Surprise me”, “hands on” and “hinter” girlfriends. Keep an eye out for the next installments.

In a nutshell, we use a combination of cutting-edge technologies to ensure our designs are as fluid and neat as possible, but the final stages of manufacturing are still done by hand, working with the same tools of 50 years ago.

You’re in a range where most rings you see online can be stunningly well executed.

If you had R30 000 to work with, there would be limits and constraints in what we can do for you. For instance; intricate metal work needs space for a designer to work his magic. As you can imagine a larger diamond creates a much roomier area to incorporate elements you love.

Sneak Peak; It’s not overly ambitious to set your sights on a 1,00ct diamond in a platinum setting. You have a good shot at proposing with the perfect custom engagement ring.

I nabbed our head of design and one of his team members for some good old feedback on common questions in the realm for vintage engagement ring design. Both have done stellar jobs at creating vintage designs over the past few months.

If you have any questions after this - get in touch. I’m sure these two would love to chat you through any further details.

As things start cooling down swiftly in South Africa the Northern hemisphere is enjoying Springtime. It’s always a time of year when warmer jewellery colour combinations from the USA, Europe and major parts of Asia light up our screens on social media.

We just finished up our yearly Engagement Ring Shopper Survey. Participation was excellent, and we've found some interesting shifts in engagement ring shopping psychology. We do have a significant market share (especially in Pretoria) so to keep things objective I eliminated all submissions from email addresses we currently have on record. This includes leads and previous customers.

To ensure our service is top notch I spend about an hour per month on HelloPeter reading what customers of other jewellers are complaining about.

If you're having a hard time making sense of all the engagement ring jargon and lingo used in jewellery stores - fear not. I just found this awesome infographic on Philippa Lund's very spunky
Instagram. Enjoy.

Remember to check out my comments below for some extra real-world information and tips.

FROM JOHAN & KOBUS

Poggenpoel Diamond Jewellers is a family business owned and managed by Kobus and Johan Poggenpoel. Although we have a very capable team, we will always gladly be fully hands-on and answer any questions personally. We hope you love our jewellery as much as we do.